Duality Merged - Chapter 7 Continuous Excitemen

With the rats dealt with, Janette swiftly went back to sleep tired as one would be after only five hours of sleep, something her now adrenaline lacking system didn’t make any better. The rest of the night went by in relative peace, only disturbed once when she was woken up by Molly’s muffled sobbing. “Be silent and sleep, Molly,” Janette whispered as she pulled the girl into her embrace before she laid down once more and slept, allowing her some much-needed rest. The fight had been taxing on her mind since she’d have to rely on her accelerated thought-process to compensate for her lack of experience.

Max, keeping watch as he did while the others slept, let his thoughts wander to the two recent fights. Charles had fought well and, while he was obviously inexperienced, he fought with a brutality Max had only seen in a few others. And those people were usually the ‘enforcers’ of any gang leader, those who were on the forefronts of any turf war. Battle-junkies, the whole lot of them, substituting hard drugs with adrenaline. What person would put their life at risk just to get a hard on? Not someone without issues, that’s who. They were messed up, he thought. Useful, but messed up.

While he hadn’t seen Charles’ wound himself, he doubted Charles would be of any use for the remainder of their time here. That left Janette, who he found to be rather impressive. Even though she, like her brother, was obviously not used to fighting, one could argue that she handled herself better than Charles. What Max couldn’t understand, however, was why she’d use her quarterstaff as a spear. Sure, he’d sharpened both ends of her stick, but it was clearly more suited for striking than thrusting. She managed to make it work though, so he didn’t dwell on it. Molly, however Yeah, not much to say about her, he thought with a condescending look on his face.

Charles was awoken by Max after the latter entered the cave, his shift done for. “The sun’s up,” said the big man as he looked down upon the wounded Charles. “And you’re still alive,” Charles said, “That’s a relief. Did anything happen during the night?” he asked. “We got attacked again,” Max calmly stated, “six of the damn things. Janette managed to kill two of them.” Charles blinked at that as he gathered his thoughts. They might end up getting attacked every night from now on. That could be a problem. Or a benefit, he mused.

“Everyone’s all right though, I presume?” Charles asked, to which Max nodded, before he went on to wake the remaining two. “We’re out of food,” Max noted. “Let Janette and Molly go pick some, then,” Charles said, “We haven’t had much of an opportunity to talk, Max. Lost that opportunity with my wound,” he continued with an awkward smile, getting a nod from everyone in return. The girls set off to procure some breakfast as Max made his way over to Charles and sat.

“You alright?” Charles probed, having noticed Max’s restlessness. “I’m fine,” Max replied, “I’m used to the occasional scuffle.” Charles had to nod at that, not surprised at all at the gang members answer. So it wasn’t the creatures or the fighting, he concluded Something else, then. Might be withdrawal, he realised, Max was a gang-member after all, so him being an addict wouldn’t be a far-fetched idea. It didn’t really matter all that much what the cause of his restlessness was, however, as long as it wasn’t due to any of the people in their group. What mattered was how he’d deal with it.

“Now that you mention fights, I don’t suppose Molly was particularly helpful, was she?” Charles asked. “She isn’t good for anything,” Max snorted derisively. “I’m sure you’re not the only one thinking that, Max. I actually think Molly is the one who’s most affected by how helpless she is,” Charles reasoned, “Janette told me how Molly’s been feeling as of late. She’s not doing great. Less happy, and such I believe she’ll prove herself useful in due time. That, or she’ll be open to suggestions as to how she could be of use.”

The two were joined by the girls before long, after which they ate breakfast. “Did you get the quarterstaff Talent, Sis? I heard you got attacked yesterday,” Charles asked, but was slightly surprised seeing Janette shake her head; a surprise that turned into a thoughtful visage after she explained she’d gotten a spear Talent instead. “Did you fight as if you were using a spear?” he asked, affirming his hypothesis at Janette’s nod. “I guess that’s the reason, then. It’s just that you used your weapon like a spear whereas Max and I used our weapons as quarterstaffs.”

“So we can get the spear Talent if we use our staves as spears?” Max asked. “I do believe that to be the case,” Charles answered, “Though I don’t know whether we should. I’m not quite confident in being able to accurately stab at a creature the size of a small child without missing my mark on numerous occasions,” he continued with a helpless smile, “Although that begets the question: what other Talents can we gain? While I doubt we could get a sword Talent by grabbing on to one end of our staves and swing it around that way due to the lack of a blade, if nothing else, we might still be able to get some other Talents somehow.”

Charles’ words sent everyone into a thoughtful silence, one that ultimately didn’t give them any answers. They sadly didn’t know enough about how Talent acquisition worked to come up with anything. And so, Max went to sleep, while Janette and Molly went out to fill up their makeshift water containers. They’d managed to stumble upon a couple of what looked like coconuts the size of melons that also grew much like actual melons, which proved to be quite useful as water basins after they had Max crack them open along the middle.

“My bandage seems to have been bled through,” Charles stated when the two girls returned, causing both himself and Janette to look towards Molly who, in turn, tilted her head. “Well, Molly,” Janette said, stunning Molly for a bit with how kind her smile looked. She honestly thought she’d be used to seeing such smiles by now. “Could you take your jacket off for me?” Janette asked as she slowly stepped closer, her kind smile morphing into a slightly sensual one as she bit her lower lip and looked upon the now blushing Molly, who, slowly, took her jacket off as she bashfully lowered her head.

“Good girl,” she heard Janette whisper, almost in a purr. She felt her heart in her throat as she saw Janette’s hands slowly reach for the bottom of her shirt. Whatever delusions she’d had, however, were quickly proven to be just that, as she heard the loud noise of cloth being ripped apart. “Thank you, my dear Molly,” Janette said, her tone one of teasing, as she walked over to Charles, “You may go ahead and wear your jacket again, Molly.”

Molly was left stunned, something that seemed to happen more now than ever, before she mechanically wore her jacket once more. What had she been thinking? She wasn’t a lesbian, she was sure of that, never having been one to feel as she did towards someone of her own sex. It must be the suspension bridge effect, she reasoned. She was in a new and, obviously, hostile environment. Max was hostile towards her, though she’d largely forgiven the man, and Charles mostly disregarded her very existence outright. Janette was the only one who was nice to her, almost overwhelming her with how much attention she’d gotten from the much prettier woman. She wasn’t quite sure whether she minded her current feelings. Charles and Janette, meanwhile, the latter had redressed the former’s wound once more with a newly procured bandage.

With what was undoubtedly the climax of the daylight hours having passed, it wasn’t long before Max woke up once more, leading the group of four to eat a light lunch. During lunch, Charles noticed that Max’s gaze would periodically turn to Molly’s ever-so-slightly exposed stomach. Her shirt, a tad smaller than it was a few hours ago, didn’t quite reveal her navel when she sat, but it was still more skin than anyone else showed. Molly, being the victim of Max’s vaguely heated look, seemed to be completely unaware, only closing her jacket when she felt the slight chill of the evening air creep up her shirt, which led to Max’s brows furrowing marginally as he muttered something Charles amusedly thought faintly resembled the word “useless.”

Evening came and went, replaced by the dark of night. The night once more proved to be moderately more eventful than any of the four wished it to be. This night there was a total of eight rats, one less than in their first confrontation. They were, however, dealt with without any issue or injury to speak of. The most noteworthy thing to happen was that Max’s Quarterstaff Proficiency Talent reached the Novice II rank as he killed the fifth rat, ending the fight. While this did mean he didn’t get to experience the effects of his increase in Talent rank, that didn’t seem to put a damper on his now slightly more inflated ego, something Charles was quick to notice.

The man had started to feel less deferential towards himself, Charles noted, as he heard Max send the girls out to fetch some apples in a stern tone, bordering on being a command. The girls, for better or worse, did as they were told, much to Max’s gratification. Seems he didn’t have a whole lot of sway in his gang, Charles mused as he awaited the girls’ return, something he didn’t have to wait long for.

When they did return, it was when Max was outside disposing of the carcases, something they’d learned was necessary to do after the rotting stank of their decomposing corpses spread. As they entered the cave, they didn’t spend long before Janette had Molly strip out of her jacket, something that fueled the latter’s delusions, something she’d never admit to, before the former promptly proceeded to transform Molly’s once white long-sleeved shirt into something that resembled a ripped crop top.

As the sun once more merged with the horizon, the group gathered for another meal. They had, at this point, become quite desensitised to the taste of apples, not even registering their taste. Something that Max did register, however, was Molly’s increasing display of naked flesh, leading him to stare at her now exposed midriff at times, something even Molly noticed. Her attempts at covering up by closing her jacket were largely unsuccessful due to her jacket’s zipper somehow being broken, much to her dismay but Janette’s anticipation and Charles’ amusement. He was starting to understand why his sister had come to like the poor thing: her antics were quite adorable at times, he had to admit.

The peaceful sixth night was, much like the previous three, interrupted by yet another vermin assault. This time, however, there was a total of thirteen of the creatures, which, despite the man’s increase in Talent rank, led to Max receiving some light scratches that reminded Molly of the ones her mother’s now dead cat would leave on one’s skin should you be foolish enough to scratch its belly. The fight did, however, allow for Janette’s Spear Proficiency Talent to increase in rank, making her the second of the four to reach the Novice II rank and the first to get a second new Talent, namely the [ Quarterstaff Proficiency Novice I ]. Her spear’s tips had become too blunted halfway through the fight, forcing her to use her weapon in the same manner Max did, confirming Charles’ guess that how you used a weapon helped dictate what Talent you would obtain.